Rusty Jones

I do not choose the landscape, it chooses me. I’m drawn to it and the urge to express myself with paint is overwhelming. Mother Nature is a terrific designer but sometimes she needs a little help when it comes to painting her likeness on canvas. Plein air painting, in particular, is the purest form of artistic expression because you do not have time to mull things over. You see what’s in front of you, you mix a color and you put it down with authority. I will drive for days just to have the opportunity to paint a particular location like the California Coast, Rocky Mountain National Park or Big Bend here in Texas. Painting the landscape allows me to emotionally connect with it and in short two hour bursts of energy, emotion, inspiration and gusto create something totally unique. Every painting I have sold it is because the buyer made an emotional connection to it. If I have created something that reminds someone of something special in their life, then I have reached out and touched their heart with my art. How cool is that?